The Flash: Rock+Run Blog

In October 1986, Johnny Dawes made the first ascent of a climb which defined a generation, a pitch described by Paul Williams in his 1989 guidebook as being ‘of such appalling difficulty as to be almost beyond the realms of human comprehension’. The climb is, of course, The Indian Face E9 – a terrifying slab which claims centre stage on Cloggy (Clogwyn Du'r Arddu), a wall steeped in heritage, perched high on the sides of Snowdon. This short film proves a wonderful insight into the history of the route and the characters that ultimately shaped its story.

 

This week’s video is a Wedge channel feature on British climbing legend, Ned Feehally. Having just released his first book, ‘Beastmaking’, Ned chats about everything from writing the book to training around the British weather and targeting his weaknesses.

Organic Climbing was founded by committed boulderer and geologist, Josh Helke, in the summer of 2003. Having worked in the outdoor industry as a writer, photographer and hold maker, Josh witnessed the very first bouldering crash pad come to market in the US.

Want to know what it takes to climb boulders at the highest level? Well, this week’s video comes straight from Red Rocks where Mad Rock athletes, Matt Fultz, Ethan Pringle and Taylor McNeill get together to take down some of the area’s supreme lines. From first ascents to repeats of Red Rock’s sandstone classics, the trio approach their projects in a variety of styles, utilising a diverse range of tactics to send. Mimicking their different personalities, their distinctive approaches to projecting give us a great insight into what you need to climb at the very limit – patience, grit and a whole lot of determination.

This week’s video is pretty special, not for its latest hard ascent or piece of climbing controversy but because it truly encapsulates what climbing is all about. From the waters of the idyllic Lake Saimaa, Finland’s biggest lake, we’re treated to some of Nalle Hukkataival’s latest and most local psicobloc projects.

The dust has settled, grades have been discussed and finally we have the low down on Stefano Ghisolfi’s second ascent of Bibliographie. It seems only fitting then, that this week’s video focusses on Ghisolfi’s iconic ascent, taking an in depth look at the route and its torturous limestone holds. In typical limestone fashion, the holds are characteristically small, sharp and pockety with the crux sections proving to be as beautiful as they are mind blowingly difficult.

In 1969, Seattle engineer and lifelong mountaineer Larry Penberthy formed ‘Mountain Safety Research’ as a one-man mission devoted to improving the safety of climbing equipment.

Wide Boy Pete Whittaker is back with another light-hearted video – this time from
Sweden as he attempts one of his hardest pitches of rope soloing to date.

The following video incorporates a run down of not only which brands each Olympic climbing athlete was using, but also which models they chose for the different styles of climbing. 

Climbing’s ultimate power couple, Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher strive to climb the Eigerwand’s hardest route, Odyssee (8a+, 1,400 meters), inside a day...